gunnut,
well, not really playing the devil's advocate here, really just adding a few things.
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Are you willing to wait 20 years to find out if they are a serious threat? Or would you like to "connect the dots" and stop them from becoming the threat?
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actually, i think with the iranian economy going down the tubes (a process already undergoing, but vastly sped-up by a-jad's complete incompetence), they're not going to be much of a threat to anyone real soon.
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We don't buy oil from Iran.
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allies such as japan do, but that soon won't be a problem either.
OpinionJournal - Extra
Sacked Iran minister warns of energy 'catastrophe' - Forbes.com
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And we have dissuaded even some of our allies to give up the nuke ambition. Taiwan was pursuing nuclear weapons in the 80s. We stopped them despite them being our ally.
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i've heard that argument before from quite a few foreign policy experts, so you're in good company. however, as i said to them, the ROC was/is an ally, and so more open to american pressure. persuading friends to drop a nuke program is do-able. persuading an enemy is a lot harder, especially when we talk about finishing said enemy off.
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And you're sure A-jad is not a madman? You're sure he wouldn't use it even if he had it? How about someone else? The next leader of Iran? The one after that?
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the presidency in iran is a position with limited power. final control of the most important political decisions (namely the power of war and peace) remains in the hands of the ayatollah, whom usually reach their position due to a very finely honed sense of self-preservation. inviting nuclear apocalypse, well...
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We have done all that you've said in the 70s. We sold the Shah our most sophisticated weapon systems in return for oil. Look what happend. And that was to a "friendly" government.
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we're doing it to the other "friendly" authoritarian regimes in the middle east, too. the difference is that they perceive US power and they want to bandwagon with us; iran wants to try to balance us.
i imagine we can play a pretty good game with the iranian government. as a carrot, we should tell them that scrapping their nuclear program will lead to free trade pacts, and economic aid. as a stick, harsh sanctions. advertise that loudly around iran. if they accept, so much the better; if they don't....let's see how long the people of iran will thank the ayatollahs for bringing them economic catastrophe.